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Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi
Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi is a Yemeni doctor who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 627.The Guantanamo Docket - Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi He is an orthopedic surgeon who graduated from medical school in Pakistan and pursued postdoctoral studies there. On March 30, 2009, the Justice Department announced that the administration had decided to release Dr. Batarfi. Batarfi was the second captive to be cleared for release by the Obama administration's review of captives' status. Press reports He claimed that he was forced to work as a doctor at the 2001 Battle of Tora Bora, during which time he treated injured mujahideen fighters inside the region's complex caves. At one of his Administrative Review Board hearings, he confirmed that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle, claiming that he had met with him for ten minutes. On May 25, 2008 the Yemen Times reported that a number of the Yemeni captives in Guantanamo had gone certifiably insane under the conditions there. mirror The article quoted the recently released Sudanese journalists Sami Al Hajj, who reported that Yemeni captives had been driven insane through the administration of hallucinogenic drugs. Summary of Evidence memo A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 2 November 2004. The memo listed the following allegations against him: Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi v. George W. Bush A writ of habeas corpus, Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi v. George W. Bush, was submitted on Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi's behalf before US District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan. mirror In response, on 4 August 2005, the Department of Defense released seventeen pages of unclassified documents related to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. He is being represented by Baltimore lawfirm Murphy & Shaffer. On 12 November 2004 Tribunal panel 15 confirmed his "enemy combatant" status. According to the decision memo in his dossier: : On 6 January 2009 Sullivan admonished the Bush administration for improperly withholding exculpatory evidence. He said that the Department of Justice had withheld as many as ten documents from him. Sullivan stated that, now that the documents had been made available to him, he would need at least until a hearing scheduled for 9 March to decide whether Batarfi should be released. In early April 2009 Sullivan admonished the Justice Department for withholding that one of the witnesses against Batarfi was seriously mentally ill. The Kansas City Star reported that a transcript of the hearing recorded Sullivan saying: The Kansas City Star reported that the unredacted portions of the transcript suggested the unnamed witness suffered from "anti-social personality disorder" -- which would have prevented him from understanding the difference between right and wrong, and would make him likely to lie. Bill Murphy, one of Batarfi's lawyers, said: First annual Administrative Review Board A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 31 October 2005. The four page memo listed thirty-nine "primary factors favoring continued detention" and two "primary factors favoring release or transfer". Transcript In the Spring of 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a twenty page summarized transcript from his Administrative Review Board. Attached to the transcript were three letters from family members. Second annual Administrative Review Board A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ayman Batarfi's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 28 November 2006. The four page memo listed thirty-six "primary factors favoring continued detention" and two "primary factors favoring release or transfer". Transcript In September 2007 the Department of Defense released the transcripts from the 2006 Board hearings which captives attended. Cleared for release On March 30, 2009, it was widely reported that Batarfi was the second captive to be cleared through the new review procedures put in place by United States President Barack Obama. The BBC quoted Dean Boyd, a US justice department spokesman, who indicated Batarfi would be transferred to a third country. Boyd indicated that Batarfi would be transferred: "to an appropriate destination country... in a manner that is consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice." Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald, reported that US District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan had scheduled Batarfi's habeas corpus hearing for early April. William Glaberson, writing in the New York Times, reported that, according to Justice department filings, Batarfi might face prosecution in the third country he was transferred to. Glaberson reported that although Batarfi had agreed to a stay of his habeas petition, to give US diplomats a chance to find a third country to accept him, he reserved the right to re-open the case if he objected to the conditions of his transfer. Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald reported that Ayman Batarfi was one of twelve men transferred from Guantanamo on December 19, 2009. According to Rosenberg Justice Department officials said that Batarfi release had been approved in March 2009. She reported that he was one of the Guantanamo captives who had described himself as a humanitarian aid worker. The other eleven men were: Jamal Alawi Mari, Farouq Ali Ahmed, Muhammaed Yasir Ahmed Taher, Fayad Yahya Ahmed al Rami, Riyad Atiq Ali Abdu al Haf, Abdul Hafiz, Sharifullah, Mohamed Rahim, Mohammed Hashim, Ismael Arale and Mohamed Suleiman Barre. Abdul Hafiz, Sharifullah, Mohamed Rahim and Mohammed Hashim were Afghans. Asmael Arale and Mohamed Suleiman Barre were Somalis. The other five men were fellow Yemenis. References External links * The Story of Ayman Batarfi, a Doctor in Guantánamo Andy Worthington Category:Yemeni extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:Living people Category:Guantanamo detainees known to have been released